Find Me
by BlueOcean44
Summary: This is what I imagine happens in the minutes after the finale. Major spoilers. Do not read if you haven't watched. Tom/Rachel. Will be continued.


**A/N: omg what was that finale!? I wasn't expecting that at all. I was so unprepared. We got a great interaction between Tom and Rachel, so I'm happy for that. This is how I see them picking up where they left off. I'm planning on continuing this with a couple of ooutcomes. Also, I haven't disappeared. I have been working on other Tom/Rachel stuff. Real life is too annoying and gets in my way. Please leave aa review or at least a comment on the finale. Thanks :)**

He has a nervousness inside, but smirks on the outside. A confidence to follow her. To surprise her at her hotel room. Everything was left unsaid and unfinished. He wouldn't be able to focus or finish his new mission if this was how they would end. So he let the door to his hotel room swing shut and went to her. They would finally talk. He would confess everything that he had been feeling. Her room was down a floor and around the corner from the stairs. The anxiousness that he was feeling earlier creeped back up. Everything would change after this. Their relationship would forever be altered, but hopefully for the better. He exited the elevator with a smile on his face. A man briskly walked by him, saluting on the way with a, "have a good night, Sir". He must've been one of the recently cured. It was odd that he was on this floor though. The only people with rooms on this floor was the crew, including Bacon, Rios, Garnett, and Rachel, "You too," Tom mumbled. He didn't really process the interaction or the man himself. Tom had too much on his mind.

His eyes traveled the distance of the long hallway until he saw her and completely panicked. He knew something was wrong. She was laying on the floor by her room. What the hell had happened to her in the last five minutes.

"Rachel!" he screamed while sprinting towards her.

When he got to her he collapsed to his knees by her side. Her hands were spread over the right side of her stomach. She was gasping and sucking in air. That's when he saw the blood seeping through the space between her fingers with every exhale. He swallowed down the sickness that was threatening to come up. To see her like this...it wasn't something he had ever prepared for. She was always the one to be in his shoes. Always the one helping people that were bleeding. Not ever being the one bleeding herself.

Her eyes weren't focusing on anything. They darted everywhere around her in a panic. Never focusing on his. It's like she didn't even register that he was there.

"Rachel, hey," he said sternly trying to get her attention. Yet, she still didn't look at him. "Rachel! stay awake! What happened?" He called to her a little more forcefully.

There it was. She stared right at him. "Tom...T-om," she stuttered. He put his hands on top of hers. He didn't know what else he could do. Anything to stop the bleeding. He pressed down, trying to apply pressure. Her icy fingers pressed back into his own. She met his hand, palm to palm. A gasp fell from her lips. She was in pain.

Tom realized that he couldn't handle this on his own. He pulled his cell phone out of his pants pocket, keeping one hand connected with hers, and dialed the front desk.

"Who did this to you?" Tom asked her.

She sucked in a breath and then whispered, "wwwhhhhhite shirt." She was growing weaker with every second wasted.

"White shirt, okay good," he repeated back to her trying to keep the conversation going. He wanted to reach out and stroke her hair to comfort her. But he knew that he couldn't take his hand off of the wound now. Her grip on him was weakening. She was slowly slipping. "You're doing good, Rachel. Just keep your eyes open," he reassured.

The cell phone that he had pressed against his ear continued to ring on the other end. "Come on come on. Damn it answer." Someone had to be at that front desk.

Finally, a woman answered, "front desk, how may I-"

"This is Captain Tom Chandler. I need you to find anyone from the Nathan James Navy ship. Tell them I need Doctor Rios to room 302. Right now. It's a medical emergency. Tell them Rachel Scott has been shot." Everyone was still downstairs in the bar when he left. They were all having a good time, drinking, and relaxing. Tex and Mike were pretty much hammered by that point, but he wasn't sure about anyone else. He hoped that they were sober enough to deal with this. Once they heard the news they would surely sober up quickly.

"Okay," the woman said, obviously overwhelmed and confused.

"I need you to go. Get them all up here," Tom added. He doubted that she was still on the other line to hear him anyway.

Rachel's eyes had closed in the quick moment that he spoke to the front desk. He panicked. "Rachel." He slapped her cheek, not hard enough to leave a mark, but enough to startle her.

She briefly met his intense gaze, but faded away just as quickly. "Rachel! Stay awake. Do not fall asleep on me. Tell me how you make the cure. Tell me anything. Rachel!" He was losing her again. By now, her grip went lax on his hand and her head had lolled to the side.

The red wetness finally registered on his hands. He was covered in her blood. It made his stomach lurch and his hands shake so badly no matter how hard he tried to steady them. The adrenaline and anxiety finally taking their toll on his body. How long had he been sitting here, trying to keep her alive? He had no idea.

The door to the stairs bangs into the wall behind him, surely leaving a dent. Tom hears the loud movement of his crew. "Tom! The doc is right behind me," he hears Mike say with a slight slur.

"She's hurt. She's been shot." That's all he could offer to them. It was as if his brain had shut down.

Someone, Rios he guesses, moves in and pulls his hands from Rachel's own. That's when he saw it. The blood all over the carpeted floor. Earlier, he couldn't quite figure out how much blood she had lost. The deep red contrasted with her dark dress. But now, as he stares at the previous light fabric, he knows that she's lost too much. Enough to bleed out, he fears.

"How the hell did this happen?" Someone asked, but he somehow couldn't figure out who.

"I don't know. I don't know," Tom shuddered. Now, not only were his hands shaking, his shoulders and legs as well. His body felt out of his own control.

"Seal off the exits. Now! No one leaves."

People begin running and moving way too fast around him. Yet, he feels cemented to the floor. He can't bring himself to move. His limbs are too heavy and he just can't leave Rachel's side.

"Captain I got it."

"Watch out. Captain."

Who is talking? And now touching him? Someone's hands grab his shoulders. A woman. Is that Garnett? His vision is swimming. Colors are fading and swirling together.

"Sir. Come on." That's the last thing he hears as someone drags his limp form up and away.

 **TBC**


End file.
